Concrete-distributing apparatus



Nam 15 927.,

A. T. SCANNELL CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Filed Auz. l

V 3925 gheets-shjfi Nov. 15, 1927.

' 1,649,785 A. 'r. SCANNELL CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 11925 Nov. 15, 1927..

A. T. SCANNELL CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS w w wz Eli/67715711755736 -TScanmeLL lll lnllll lllllllll lll'lll w WM w ALBERT T.SCANNELL,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CONCRETE-DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS.

Application filedAugust 1, 1925. Serial No. 47,521.

My invention relates to improvements in concrete distributing apparatus.

Equipment of this character as used heretofore has consisted of a tower,a bucket for elevating the concrete, a chute or chutes supported by thetower and arranged to be ele- 'vated as the work progresses, and ahopper for receiving the concrete from the bucket and discharging itinto the upper end of the chute. Since the tower is of skeletonconstruction, it is usually made large enough to permit the bucket totravel up and down inside the same, although in some cases it is muchsmaller, whether of skeleton construetion or made as a solid mast, inwhich case the bucket travels up and down near one of the outside facesthereof. lVhere this latter arrangement has been attempted, the buckethas been provided with a gate at the bottom, arranged to discharge theconcrete .into a trough or chute which passes through the latticedtowerfrom one side to the other or around the same, to the upper end ofthe main chute, or, in some cases, the upper end of the main chute has asmall hopper mounted thereon and spaced from the tower by means ofbrackets, permitting the bucket to travel upwardly between said towerand said small hopper discharging into the latter through a bottom gate.With most of these prior arrangements, wherein a tower of smallcross-sectional area is employed, it is necessary for the operator touse considerable care in order to stop the bucket at the proper heightin the tower,

to permit the discharge of its contents through the bottom gate. Anelevation thereof beyond a certain limit would result in dama e to theapparatus.

One ofiject of the present invention is to provide a dumping bucketarranged to slide up and down on one face of the mast and to tip when itreaches the proper height on the mast to discharge its load of concrete,and which if elevated beyond the proper point will simply continue toascend in inverted position without damage to the equipment. Suchmanipulation by the operator is obviously more rapid than one in whichconsiderable care is required, the construction also permitting of theuse of a" suitable receptacle, container or hopper which may be fastoned directly to the mast, and hence made larger than in the othercases referred to.

Another object is to mount the sliding bucket on the side of the mastadjacent the receptacleor hopper; in other words, on a face at rightangles to the face near which the hopper is located instead of on theopposite side of said mast, and to extend the hopper to one side so thatthe bucket may dump directly into it.

A further object is to provide means .for properly bracing the mast atsuitable intervals without interfering with the vertical adjustment ofthe hopper or the up and down movement of the bucket, or of a materialhoist, each of which may operate on a. different face of the mast.

In erecting prior towers of small horizontal cross-sectional area, i.e., so-called lllZlStS, it has been necessary to use a gin pole ofconsiderable length to raise the successive ::ections. An additionalobject of my invention is to provide a mast or tower consisting ofvertical half-sections which are fastened together in offset orstaggered relation lengthwise, a short erecting pole being bolted toeach half-section before itis raised, whereby each half section and itsextension serves as a gin pole to raise the succeeding section, two suchshort poles serving for the entire series by using them alternately.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one form of apparatuswhich embodies the invention. I Fig. 1 is a side elevation of theequipment.

Fig. 2 is' an elevation at right angles thereto.

Fig. 3 is a section through the tower on line 33, Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a similar section showing the construction of the two halfsections before they are fastened together.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the erec-- Fl 2. I

%he mast is constructed preferably in halfsections, as shown in Fig. 0

cross-section comprising ur vertical com- 5, the complete pressionmembers 10, preferabl steel channels arranged as two pairs wit theflanges of each palr extending toward the other and the webs parallel.Two inner flanges of each pair are connected by lacing 11, and the websin the same plane by transverse plates 12, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.Before assemblying the half-sections they are fabricated as shown inFig. 4, each half consisting of two channels with its connecting lacingand a single series of plates projecting from one of the channels.

The lowermost section of the mast is constructed preferably as shown inFig. 5; that is to say the lower part of it is complete, consisting offour channels with complete connecting lacing and transverse plates, asin Fig. 3, the projecting upper part being only a half section. Thesecond and succeeding upper sections are constructed inhalves,

as shown in Fig. 4, and assembled alternately in staggered relation. Tofacilitate this assembly, a short erecting pol-e 13, in the form of apipe with a swivel head at the top, is bolted to the upper end of asection before the same is erected, and after erection is used as a ginpole tohold a block and tackle by which the succeeding section is raisedand held until it can be bolted to the mast as thus far erected. Thissucceeding section also has a short pole bolted thereto, similar to pole13, which is used in-like manner to raise the next succeeding section.the poles 13 being unbolted and used repeatedly in this manner until thetower is completed. The last section, as shown in Fig. 5, is a shortsection. After it has been erected, the transverse frame or cat-head 14is raised and bolted to the top of the tower, said frame having a sheave15 over which a steel cable 16 runs, one end of which is fastened to thedrum of a hoisting engine (not shown) and the other end of which isfastened to the frame 17 of a hoist or dump bucket 18.

The frame 17 is preferably of rectangular form, with plates- 19 '(Fig.11) riveted to the top and bottom thereof and to transverse members 20,each of the latter carrying a metal filler bar 21 arranged to slide upand down between the flanges of opposite channel members (see Fig. 9).Each filler bar has a plate 22 secured thereto which serves to lock thesliding carriage thus formed. to the vertical track, to'preventwithdrawal thereof as the rectangular frame slides up and down. Thelower end of said frame has a pair of side plates 23 (Fig. 10) sev curedthereto.

A shaft 24 is mounted in alined openings in said plates and passesthrough 0 enings in the forgings 25 secured to the buc ket 18, asv shownin Fi s. 10 and 11, whereby said bucket is pivota ly mountedon saidshaft. Said pivoted support is offset with respect to the center ofgravity of the bu' -iket so that the latter tends to tilt memes 17. Thebucket is dumped when it reachesthe proper height by means of rollers27, 28, which engage guide members, hereinafter described, throwing thebucket into dumping position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 10. Thismovement of the bucket about its pivotedsupport is limited by stops 29,which are riveted to the plates 23.

As shown in Fig. 10, the center of gravity of the combined frame anddump bucket is substantially in a central vertical plane, passingthrough the channel members 17. With th1s arrangement, the combinedframe and bucket hangs substantially vertically at the end of thehoistingcable and the plates 22 (Fig. 9) slide up and down behind theflanges of the channel members 10 without substantial friction. It willbe seen that, as a result of th1s arrangement, no anti-friction rollersare employed, such as are frequently used with hoist bucket frames. Thebucket, as shown n Fig. 10, is preferably symmetrical with reference tosaid vertical plane, previously referred to, but may be of any othersuitable configuration as long as it is so mounted A suitablereceptacle, preferably 'in the form of a hopper 30 is mounted on a pairof horizontal members 31, the latter being secured to a verticalrectangular frame consisting preferably of angle irons 32 connected bytransverse members 33, in addition to the transverse members 31. Asshown in Figs. 8 and 9, the angle irons 32 of the frame have shortlengths of angle irons 34 riveted thereto, as well as castings 35, thelatter projecting around one of the flanges of one of the channelmembers 10. After the hopper has been bolted in position, the brackets35 on the same corner of the tower are removed so as not to obstruct theup and down movement of the bucket. (See Figs. 8 and 9.) The rectangularframe is therefore arranged so that it may slide up and down. on oneface of the tower, at an angle to the face on which the bucket frameslides, (in this case at right-angles) and may on which the bucketslides. With this arrangement, as shown in Fig. 9, the vertical chute.

Transverse members 40 (see Figs. 6 and 9) are secured in parallelrelation to the top of the hopper and have vertical plates 41 securedthereto, the latter carrying angle irons 42, 43, arranged, as shown inFig. 6, to form dumping guides which engage the rollers 27, 28, on thebucket 18. These dumping guides are so disposed that during the upwardmovement of the bucket the latter is tilted out of its position ofstable equilibrium, whereupon the roller 27 rides outwardly upon thehorizontal part of the angle guide 42 as the bucket is tipping toinverted position, and if the operator continues to hoist the bucketafter it is tipped as far as possible to discharge its contents(determined by the stops 29) it continues its upward travel insubstantially inverted position, without damage to the equipment. Duringits descent, the roller 28 first en.- gages the upper end of the guide43 thereby swinging the bucket outwardly a slight amount, suflicientlyto insure that the :roller 27 will engage the horizontal path of theangle guide 42, after which the bucket rights itself during itscontinued downward movement.

The lowerend, of the hopper frame 32 carries a projecting bracket 45which supports the upper end of the chute 46 through which the concreteflows after it is discharged from the hopper. The upper end of saidchute is provided with the usual funnel shaped inlet 47 and swivelsupport 48, and its outer end is supported by a cable 49 secured to abracket 50, also mounted to slide on the same face of'the mast on whichthe hopper frame slides, and capable of being bolted thereto at anysuitable point in the height of said mast. As shown in Fig. 2, thisbracket 50 is preferably connect-- ed b a chain 51 to the hopper frame32 beneath it, whereby a rope, passing around a block and tackle at thetop of the tower may be conveniently used to lift the bracket, hopperand chute at the same time. In this way, the proper distance between thebracket and the hopper is maintained and the angle of the chute is notchanged.

The tower is suitably braced preferably by means of guy-ropes 52 securedto opposite ends of cross-arms 53 secured prefe'rably to each section ofthe tower. Said cross-arms are mounted preferably on brackets 54 on theface of thetower opposite the hopper and are spaced from the tower toprovide suflioient clearance for the bucket to.

slide up and down without interference. In

this way, three faces of the tower are unobstructed, and, hence, areavailable not only for supporting the hopper and associated parts, butmay be used also as vertical guides or tracks for the elevation ofmaterial of various kinds. For example, asecond concrete dumping bucket,similar to that shown herein, may be mounted on the opposite side of thetower, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, the arrangement beingpreferably such that the two buckets are suspended from a single cableso that when one is ascending the other is descending. With such anarrangement, the hopper 30 would be extended on both sides of the tower,also shown in dotted lines in said figure.

A material hoist may also be provided, if desired. It consists of aplatform 55 projecting from a frame 56 arranged to slide up and down onany of the three faces of the tower, not being used at the time as arunway for an elevator of some kind. For example, it may be on the sameface of the tower as that on which the hopper is supported, as shown inFig. 2. The arrangement of said sliding frame is maybe somewhat similarto the frame which supports the hopper, with the addition of rollers 57,which ride on a track consisting of angle irons 58 secured to thechannel members 10 by angle brackets 59 (Fig. 12) or said frame may beotherwise mounted in any well known or suitable manner. This trackextends from the ground to a point somewhat beneath the hopper frame,and is extended in height as the hopper frame is raised. The materialplatform is raised and lowered by means of a cable 60 passing oversheave 61 supported on a bracket 62 which is bolted to the mast atvarious points in the height thereof, similarly to the bracket 50. Theplatform of said material hoist may be sufficiently large to accommodateseveral wheel barrows. If a smaller material hoist is desired, it may beconstructed to slide on the opposite face of the tower from that onwhich the concrete bucket slides, a rectangular frame, similar to frame17 being provided, and provided with a small platform at the bottom.

At the end of the chute 46 is a second chute 63 which may be swivellysupported, its outer end being supported by a cable 64 secured to thetower. A third chute section 65 and a fourth chute 66 may also beemployed, if desired. Said third section maybe secured to the end of thesecond section by meansof a cable 67 and Windlass 68, the other end ofsaid section being supported by a gin-pole 69 andtackle 70. With thisarrangement, when it is desired to move the third chute section to somenew location it can simply be lowered to the ground or building underconstruction and lifted around to the new position while the secondchute section 63 is being swung to its new position,

after which the third section can be elevated to the proper position.The Windlass is operated by a man sitting on the second section. It isobvious that certain of the various combinations disclosed herein may beused without the others.

The tower structure is not limited to the .use of channels or thestaggered arrange ment thereof or other specific structural de tails, asvarious changes may be made in all of the different parts of theapparatus described herein, within the scope of the invention.

What I claim as new is:

1. Apparatus of the class described com prising four upright cornermembers forming a mast of relatively small cross-sectional area,guy-wire attachments secured to and spaced from one face of the mast,and receptacles guided by the corner members and and slidable on twoother adjacent faces of the mast and extending beyond the respectivefaces, said receptacles being arranged for movement on said faceswithout obstruction of one receptacle by the other or by said guy-Wireattachments.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising four upright cornermembers forming a mast of relatively small cross-sectional.

area, guy-wire attachments secured to and spaced from one face of themast, and receptacles guided by the corner members and slidable on twoother adjacent faces of the mast and extending beyond the respectivefaces, said receptacles being arranged for .movement on said faceswithout obstruction of one receptacle by the other or by said guy wireattachments, the fourth face of the mast being available for a similarlyslidable receptacle when desired.

3. Concrete distributing apparatus comprising a mast, a hopper againstone face of the mast, a material hoist on said face beneath said hopper,and a concrete hoist on each of the adjacent faces of said mast, each ofwhich concrete hoists is arranged to discharge its load into saidhopper.

4. In combination, a mast having a plurality of side faces, a chutehaving its upper end supported by said mast adjacent one of said faces,a hoist bucket pivotally supported by a frame, means for raising andlowering said bucket and frame along a. face of said mast adjacent saidfirst face, means for conveying concrete from said bucket to the upperend of said chute, and means for tilting said bucket about its pivotalsupport at the proper elevation,

5. Concrete distributingapparatus comprising a mast, a hopper againstone face of said mast, a material hoist on the same face.

beneath said hopper, and a, concrete hoist on the adjacent face.

6. Concrete distributing apparatus comprising amast, a hopper againstone face of" said mast, and av concrete hoist on each of the adjacentfaces of said mast, eachof which hoists is arranged to discharge itsload into said hopper.

7. Concrete distributing apparatus comprising a mast, a hopper againstone face of said mast, a material hoist on the same face beneath saidhopper, a concrete hoist on the adjacent face, and guy-rope attachmentssecured to the face opposite said hopper.

8. Concrete distributing apparatus comprising a mast of rectangularcross-section, a hopper secured to one face thereof, a concrete hoist onan adjacent face thereof, brackets projecting from the face oppositesaid hopper, and guy-rope attachments secured to said brackets andspaced from said tower. 9. A mast for concrete distributing apparatuscomprising vertical superimposed sections having guy-wire attachmentssecured to one face thereof but spaced therefrom to provide a clearancewhereb the remaining faces of said mast are avai able for the elevationof material.

10. A mast for concrete distributing apparatus comprising verticalsuperimposed sections having brackets secured to one face thereof,cross-arms carried by said brackets whereby they are spaced from saidmast; said arms extending beyond opposite faces of said mast, andguy-ropes secured to opposite ends of said cross-arms and extendingradially to suitable attachments whereby the remaining faces of saidmast are available for the elevation of material.

11. The combination with a mast one side of which comprises a track, ofa. container secured to said mast and slidably adjustable on anotherside thereof, a frame slidable on said track, a guide on said container,a tiltable bucket on said frame andoutside of said mast, means on saidbucket engageable with said guide for tilting said bucket to dump intosaid container, and members for limiting the tilting movement of saidbucket in one direction and preventing tipping in the oposite direction,said frame being freely slidable on said track above the normal dumpingposition of said bucket.

12. Apparatus of the class described, comprising fourupright cornermembers forming a mast o'f relatively small crossssectional area, oneside of-whichcomprises a track, a container secured to said mast, aframe 'slidable on said track, a guide on said container, a tiltablebucket on said frame and outside of said mast, means on said bucketengageable-with said guide for-'tilti'ngsaid bucket to dump. into saidcontainer, and members forlimiting the tilting movement of said bucketin one direct-ion and preventing tipping in the oppositedirection, saidframe being freely flidable on said track above the normal dumpingposition of said bucket, said container and guide being slidablevertically on the outside of said mast for causing said bucket to dumpat different elevations.

13. Apparatus of the class described, comprising four upright cornermembers forming a mast of relatively small crosssectlonal area, a hopperframe vertically adj uslable on two of said corner members, a hoppersecured to said frame and located outside of said mast, a dump bucketsupporting frame located outside of said mast, having sliding engagementwith two adjacent corner mean here and locked thereto to prevent lateralmovement, a dump bucket pivotally carried by said frame, and meansprojecting from said hopper for intercepting the upward path of travelof said bucket and causing it to dump, said hopper being extendedsulliciently to receive the contents of said bucket and having anopening in the bottom, and a chute for conveying material from saidhopper, the upper end of said chute being supported on said hopper framebeneath said opening, whereby a self-contained equipment is providedwith the material elevating and distributing equipment outside of saidmast. and mounted on the corner members thereof.

14. A concrete hoisting and distributing tower, comprising four uprightsteel corner members, each having a plurality of flanges, transversespacing and securing members extending from each corner post to the twoadjacent posts to provide a rigid structure. one flange of each postprojecting therefrom to form one of a pair of vertical guides, a hopperframe supported on one face of said mast, an eccentrically mountedhopper carried thereby, a dump bucket frame slidably mounted on a pairof said vertical guides on another face of the said mast, a dump bucketpivotally mounted on said frame, and means mounted on said hopper to beenga ed by said bucket during its upward vtravel, causing said bucket todump, said hopper being extended to a point adjacent the vertical pathof movement of said dump bucket whereby the contents of the latter maybe discharged into the former.

15. A concrete hoisting and distributing tower comprising four channelmembers a rranged as the corner posts of said tower and in two pairs,the channel of each pair being arranged with the flanges projectingtoward each other and the webs substantially par allel, each innerflange of the same pair being connected to the other by transversespacing and securing members, the outer surfaces of the correspondingwebs of each pair being in the same plane and connected by transversespacing and securing members, whereby four outer flanges at the cornersare left unobstructed to form vertical guides, and a bucket and hoppereach having sliding engagement with certain of said corner members, saidbucket being arranged to discharge its contents into said hopper.

16. Concrete distributing apparatus com prising a mast, a hopper adjustably secured to one face thereof, a pair of vertical guides arrangednear opposite sides of an adjacent face, a frame engaging said guides toprevent movement away from the mast and arranged to slide up and down onsaid adjacent face, a bucket pivotally supported on said frame, andrelatively stationary means for causing said bucket to tilt anddischarge its contents into said hopper.

17 A mast for concrete distributing apparatus comprising verticalsuperimposed sections having attachments for bracing the mast secured toone face thereof but spaced therefrom to provide a clearance whereby theremaining faces of said mast are available for the elevation of materialon the outside of said mast.

18. A material hoisting and distributing mast consisting of sectionswith means at the end for securing them in vertical alignment. eachsection comprising four longitudinal corner members with transversespacing and securing members to forma rigid structure of uniform crosssection, each corner memher having a flange projecting therefrom to formguides near opposite sides of each outside face, a vertically movablecarriage on one face of said mast interlocked with the adjacent guidesto permit up and down movement only, a second carriage secured to theguides on an adjacent face and having means detachably secured theretopermitting it to be locked to the adjacent guidesbut movable verticallythereon, said means when removed permitting said first carriage to slideup and down freely past'said second carriage without interference andmeans secured to a third face of said mast between said corner guidesproviding. attachments for bracing the ,mast sections withoutohstructing the "other three faces.

In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

CERTIFICATE or CORRECTION.

PntentNo. 1,649,785. Granted November 15, 1927, to

ALBERT T. SCANNELL.

it is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 3.line 91, strike out the word "is"; page 4, line 21, claim 1, strike outthe word "and"; and that the said Letters Patent should be read withthese corrections therein that the same may conform to the record ofthe'case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 20th day of December, A. D. 1927.

M. J. Moore,

Seai. Acting Commissioner of Patents.

